“Sugar” Shane Mosley has a final exam Saturday in the form of a welterweight fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

But Mosley already has been put through a grueling psychological test during the promotion for this high-profile bout.

He’s absorbed countless verbal shots from Mayweather who, among other things, has brought Mosley’s ongoing divorce battle into play and has wondered aloud how long Mosley was on performance-enhancing drugs.

Speaking of PEDs, a recent video was released by BALCO founder Victor Conte on YouTube showing excerpts of a deposition Mosley gave for his defamation suit against Conte, who said Mosley knowingly ingested steroids and EPO prior to his 2003 fight against Oscar De La Hoya.

Mosley steadfastly has denied knowing what he was taking was illegal. But he looked nervous during the deposition, something probably not lost on Conte.

That along with everything else could make the toughest nut crack.

But those around him – and Mosley himself – insist he is more than focused on a fight that could result in the biggest victory of his fine career because the boastful Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) has never lost.

Besides all the stuff Mayweather has said during interviews, he’s also called Mosley a “dummy” and other, more profane names during HBO’s “24/7” series.

No problem, Mosley said.

“I know me not reacting to his antics or whatever, that’s just me blocking all that stuff out and wanting to fight,” said Mosley, a Pomona native. “I don’t really care about the different things that are being said. That doesn’t really matter.

“What matters is the fight and what happens in the fight. That’s my whole interest.”

Keep in mind that Mosley has been through more than a divorce and the revisitation of his 2003 – let’s say unknowing – use of steroids. He is a fighter who stopped Antonio Margarito in the ninth round in January 2009 and hasn’t fought since. His trainer, Naazim Richardson, said Mosley is so hungry for this fight he would have done anything to get it.

“Shane wants this fight so bad, he doesn’t care,” Richardson said. “They could have convinced Shane that Roger (Mayweather, Floyd Jr.’s trainer) needs to be one of the judges. Shane would have agreed to it because Shane just wants to fight.

“You can tell Shane, `Look, you’re going to have to tie one arm behind your back,’ and Shane’s going to fight.”

Mosley won’t have to do that, but he did have to agree to a rematch clause and Olympic-style drug testing, something he has welcomed with open arms.

Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) fights under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. Its CEO, Richard Schaefer, admitted he initially was worried when Conte released the aforementioned video.

“When I first saw it, I was,” Schaefer said. “But after I saw Shane and talked to Shane and I see how he is, in all those fights we have done, I have never seen Shane as confident as he is. His attitude is, `This is my chance, I’ve been waiting for it and I’m going to be ready.’ He is confident to have Naazim Richardson in his corner.

“Everything else is blocked out. As they say, he is in the zone.”

Indeed, Richardson could be one of the reasons Mosley’s head seemingly is where it should be.

“It’s been great working with him,” Mosley said of Richardson, in his second fight with Mosley. Richardson is the one who caught Margarito with illegal hand wraps prior to his fight with Mosley.

“Right from Day One, we jelled perfectly because we had the same philosophies about boxing and different things.

“We worked great. Right from Day One, it was a great match.”

Both from X’s and O’s as well as mental-toughness standpoints.

“He’s hard on me and makes sure that I’m prepared physically, mentally and especially, all different ways to be prepared to enter the fight,” said Mosley, 38. “I think that’s the difference, is being prepared. He’s 100 percent into the game.

“I’m fighting and he’s fighting as well. He’s not fighting with his fists and hands, but he’s fighting with his mind.”

According to Mosley, his father and former trainer, Jack Mosley, wasn’t 100 percent into what he was supposed to be doing and that’s why he replaced him with Richardson.

Mayweather has taken it upon himself to blast Mosley for that.

“He helped his son,” Mayweather said of Jack Mosley. “He stood by his son’s side through the ups and through the downs of his career. For him to say his dad wasn’t giving him 100 percent, I didn’t like that at all.”

Those words apparently are not going to hurt Mosley, who said this fight is much too important to let that happen.

“It’s nothing personal,” he said. “I know for me, it’s all business. This is a business and this is a competitive sport. This is our legacy on who’s the best fighter. It’s a challenge. It’s a challenge that I’m ready to take.

“I’m ready to go into the history books as being the guy to beat Floyd Mayweather and the guy that beats everybody out there – the last man standing. I’m into that.”

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